1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to software localization and more specifically to allowing users worldwide to purchase localized software in their own language.
2. Introduction
Traditional software distribution through retail outlets is expensive, slow, and wasteful. Boxed software for purchase in a retail store is cost-inefficient because physical media must be designed, duplicated, packaged, transported, and displayed in a retail store where it may or may not be purchased right away. Other durable goods do not depreciate quickly and can sit on store shelves for years, if not decades, without significant adverse effects. Software, on the other hand, has a relatively short life span and the costs of distribution and inventory can quickly place a large burden on a small software development company. Retail software is maddeningly slow, given the rapid pace of software development. New versions are written frequently, which drives obsolescence of old versions. Retail packaging is often large and bulky, using a significant amount of plastic and paper to display, secure, and deliver a small disc or other media. For these and other reasons, software developers are investigating and shifting to online distribution where possible.
Online distribution of software has opened a new market for many small and medium software developers. The barriers to software publication and distribution are greatly diminished, meaning that software developers can publish their product on the Internet at a miniscule fraction of the cost of retail distribution. But this new market presents a significant opportunity and a significant problem. Once a software product is available online, many people from all over the world can potentially purchase the software. The market is much larger, leading to a higher chance of success as measured by raw sales, but the worldwide market is more linguistically diverse than the United States. United States Census results from 2000 show that 95.8% of Americans over 5 years of age speak English, whereas data from 2005 indicate that only approximately 25% of world inhabitants have a basic knowledge of English and only 5.4% of world inhabitants speak English natively. In traditional retail distribution in the United States alone, a software product developed in only one language adequately covers the majority of the population. In a worldwide market, restricting a product to one or two languages significantly confines the total possible sales.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved way for software developers to allow access to their software in different languages.